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In a pair of rulings on Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld state laws that ban transgender women and girls from participating in female sports and rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to limit birthright citizenship.
The Unitarian Universalist Association, which tracked the two cases because of their relevance to UU values, shared separate statements on the Supreme Court opinions.
In Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J., both argued in front of the Supreme Court on the same day, female transgender student athletes challenged laws in Idaho and West Virginia that banned trans girls or women from playing on sports teams that match their gender identities.
In response to the court’s 6-3 ruling upholding the ban on trans athletes, the UUA reaffirmed its commitment to equal rights for trans, nonbinary, and intersex people.
The UUA emphasized core UU religious beliefs, expressed in the Shared Values of pluralism, justice, and interdependence—values that require UUs “to dismantle racism and all forms of systemic oppression.”
“These cases were never about sports; they are about the struggle for people across the gender spectrum to be recognized and affirmed as full members of the human family,” UUA Executive Vice President Carey McDonald said in the statement. “We will continue the work to ensure that trans people like me are welcome in every space in this country, including trans athletes’ place on the playing field.”
Previously, the UUA led an effort that culminated in it and eleven other religious traditions issuing a joint statement affirming that trans, nonbinary, and intersex people are worthy of “love, support, and protection.”
“Our faiths, our theologies, and our practices of prophetic witness call on us to say with one voice to transgender people among us: ‘You are holy. You are sacred. We love you. We support you, and we will protect you,’” the interfaith statement proclaims.
‘Immigration is a moral issue’
While the UUA decried the court’s decision to let states ban transgender athletes from school sports teams, it celebrated the ruling that reaffirms nearly everyone born in the United States is a citizen.
Ruling on the case of Trump v. Barbara—made in response to an executive order from President Donald Trump on the first day of his second term—five of nine judges found the president’s directive in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh argued the executive order was constitutional but in breach of federal law.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch dissented.
UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt unequivocally affirmed the Association’s commitment to pluralism and immigrant justice, including the foundational right of birthright citizenship.
“Unitarian Universalists and our ancestors have fought throughout the history of this nation to protect the rights of all who live in this country, including those who were denied citizenship because of the color of their skin, the language they spoke, or where their parents were born,” Betancourt said in the statement.
“As the child of immigrants myself, I know how important it is to be both affirmed as a citizen of this country and to have the places from which my parents came recognized as beautiful and worthy,” Betancourt added. “As a society, there does not need to be a conflict between being a citizen and from an immigrant community.”
UU values on this issue are also expressed in a 2013 Statement of Conscience, which called for UUs to fight for just and humane immigration policy, including a path to permanent residency and citizenship for all immigrants.
“UUs support birthright citizenship, which has been a bedrock principle for more than a century, because we believe that pluralism and dismantling racism are at the core of who we are as people of faith,” said Betancourt.